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"I am delighted with this win because this is a track which I have always found difficult,” said Marquez. “You could see how tough it is for me this weekend: I missed out on pole for the first time this season and had my first crash of the year.

“The race was very hard with a battle against Dani, Jorge and Valentino,” continued Marquez, whose brother Alex Marquez won the Moto3 race. “I think that the last few corners were especially spectacular, with the moves by Valentino and Dani. I am very happy about taking another 25 points and also to win on the same day as my brother at home in front of all our fans. It’s something very special."

The 25-lap race itself was a dramatic one, with Marquez, Rossi and Pedrosa battling down to the final corners of the last lap. Upon the start, nine-time World Champion Rossi stormed to the front of the pack almost immediately and led for the majority of the race before finishing second.

“I’m so happy because it was a great race,” said Rossi. “I enjoyed it so much. I started fast and I was able to stay in front for a long part of the race. I’m not satisfied 100 percent because I thought I could win but in the last laps they were faster than me. I tried the maximum but also Dani overtook me and I lost time. I did a good race; it is another podium so we have to continue like this.”

Similarly, Pedrosa was upbeat about his results though the Spaniard would have preferred to have taken the win. Although he’d worked his way up into second for the last several laps, a late-race error ultimately pushed him back to third.

"It was a very good, hard-fought race,” said Pedrosa. “There was a lot of overtaking and it was very intense, because we were going so fast. Overall I am very satisfied, even though the end result was not the best; we fought hard and I felt much better physically.

“I'll take the positives from this race,” continued Pedrosa. “I got my wish of being up at the front, both in practice and on the early laps of the race, and I ended the race fighting with Marc for the victory."

Currently, Marquez leads the overall championship points standings, with Rossi in second and Pedrosa in third.